User-added image

 

Multi-Storefront (MSF) allows you to use a single BigCommerce “store” to power multiple “storefronts”. Each of these storefronts can have its own unique domain, theme, categories, web pages, social media links, price lists, email templates, and more. The settings and data for each of these storefronts are managed from one BigCommerce control panel.

Storefronts share your store’s catalog. You can choose which products appear on which storefronts.

Orders from all channels come into your BigCommerce orders area. Orders include storefront attribution and can be sorted per storefront.

Storefronts can use BigCommerce’s customizable, native theme platform (Stencil), or use a third-party, headless solution like Next.js, Gatsby.js, Nuxt.js, Contentful, Prismic, Contentstack, Uniform, Amplience, Shogun Frontend, and Bloomreach.

 

Use Cases

Multi-storefront can be useful for merchants who have multiple brands or who serve multiple segments (like B2C, B2B, retail, and wholesale segments).

You can also use additional storefronts as a marketing tool. For example, you can create a new storefront as a “microsite” that focuses on a specific product or campaign launch.

Depending on your business model, multi-storefront may work for some merchants as a multi-region or cross-border solution. However, some store functions are global and are shared across storefronts, such as payment methods, tax, and shipping settings. Additionally, even though the same product can be assigned to different storefronts, product attributes (like description and name) cannot be overridden into a different language (without customization). Stores on an Enterprise plan will have access to additional product localization fields.

 

Features

With multiple native storefronts, you can do all of this within the control panel:

  • Create and manage multiple BigCommerce storefronts within a single control panel.
  • Configure storefront settings and internal notifications for each storefront.
  • Connect different domain names and SSL certificates for each storefront.
  • Apply and customize themes, page templates, email templates, widgets, web pages, scripts, and social media links for each storefront.
  • Set and manage default storefront currency and unique sets of currencies per storefront.
  • Configure unique checkout settings per storefront.
  • Set up web analytics (like Google Analytics) specific to each storefront.
  • Set up a Meta Pixel specific to each storefront.
  • Create storefront-unique categories and make products available on one or multiple storefronts.
  • Stores on an Enterprise plan will have access to additional product localization fields.
  • Configure inventory settings for each storefront, including notifications.
  • Control product filtering settings per storefront and per category.
  • Configure category and web page URL structure per storefront.
  • Use Price Lists for custom pricing on each storefront.
  • View and manage orders and customers for multiple storefronts in one place.
  • Control product purchasability per storefront.
  • Create Automatic and Coupon Promotions per storefront (using the Standard Promotions editor).
  • Manage customer groups (like retail or wholesale) for each storefront and set the default group.
  • Create category-level discounts per storefront for specific customer groups.
  • Create customers and manage login access to each storefront.
  • Control storefront status for all storefronts from Channel Manager.
  • Filter ecommerce sales reports by native storefront channel.
  • Collect and export newsletter subscriptions per storefront.
  • Create and manage 301 redirects per storefront.

With multiple headless storefronts, you can do all of this within the control panel:

  • Create and manage multiple headless storefronts within a single control panel.
  • Configure storefront settings for each storefront.
  • Connect different domain names and SSL certificates for each storefront (this is managed outside of BigCommerce for headless storefronts).
  • Create storefront-unique categories and make products available on one or multiple storefronts.
  • Stores on an Enterprise plan will have access to additional product localization fields.
  • Configure category and web page URL structure per storefront.
  • Enable, disable, and customize transactional store emails and abandoned cart notifications.
  • Configure inventory settings for each storefront, including notifications.
  • Configure unique checkout settings per storefront when using redirected checkout.
  • Use price lists for custom pricing on each storefront.
  • Set up analytics tracking for each headless storefront.
  • Create Automatic and Coupon Promotions per storefront (using the Standard Promotions editor).
  • Set category-level discounts per storefront and customer group with appropriate prices reflected on the storefront.
  • Enable/disable purchasing on the storefront.
  • Control storefront status for all storefronts from Channel Manager.
  • Create customers and manage login access to each storefront.
  • Filter ecommerce sales reports by headless storefront channel.
  • Create and manage 301 redirects per storefront.

All of these features are available via the API as well. See Introduction to Multi-Storefront in the Dev Center.

 

App Support

All apps are designed to work at a store level and are installed at the store level. Every app should work on the default storefront that is provisioned when a new store is created.

We are working with all of our app partners to ensure that when an app is installed on a store, it will work across all storefronts associated with that store.

When searching for apps in the BigCommerce App Marketplace, use the Multi-Storefront filter to show only MSF-compatible apps. The filter appears at the bottom left on search result pages.

The Multi-Storefront filter on app search result pages

Apps display MSF compatibility under the Information section of the app detail page. The Multi-Storefront badge appears on the right side of the page under Compatible with.

If you are using MSF and would like to use an app that may not be fully compatible, please reach out to the app developer/tech partner for more details about how their app would work across multiple storefronts. You can see a list of all MSF-compatible apps here.

The Multi-Storefront badge that appears on the detail page of MSF-supported apps

You can find the Multi-Storefront Optimized app collection on the homepage of the App Marketplace. 

The MSF-Optmized Collection on the BigCommerce App Marketplace homepage

What is the difference between “compatible” and “optimized”?

An MSF-compatible app works across all storefronts but does not have the ability to customize the experience per storefront (basically, all app settings are shared across all storefronts).

An MSF-optimized app allows you to customize the experience for each storefront.

 

How are apps priced for Multi-Storefront? App pricing is determined by the provider. Contact the app provider for details on pricing for multiple storefronts.